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Tuesday, February 28, 1978
University Daily Kansan
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Comment
Unused editors represent the opinion of the Kannan editorial staff. Signed columns represent the views of only the writers.
Abolish architect office
The Kansas House Ways and Means Committee apparently is taking seriously the idea of abolishing the state architect's office, replacing it with a seven-member state building commission and a joint committee on state building construction. For the numerous victims of inexcessibly sloppy state construction, the panel's work is indeed welcome news.
Specifically, State Rep. Fred Weaver, committee chairman, last week grilled architects and contractors who opposed abolishing the state office. Weaver was more than skeptical about the performance of Carl Ossman, acting state architect.
of Carl Ossman, the Legislature began to delve deeply into the office's problems last summer and fall, when one of its interim committees proposed the building commission and joint committee. The commission would select private architectural firms for state projects and hold the firms accountable for their work. The state government and civil service system would be less responsible, and private enterprise more responsible, for the state building projects.
OSSMAN HIMSELF has improved the office since taking over from the former state architect, Louis Krueger. Krueger quit last fall, he said, because he thought it was impossible for one person to be responsible
for all the problems in his division. Evidence exists, however, that too many mistakes were made by his office for him to evade at least partial responsibility for them.
partner to the school. But the office has been so riddled with skipshod performances that there is a ring to Krueger's comments. and As we Waer observed last week, Ossman has not completely cleaned up the mess left by his predecessor. The new School of Law building still has not been formally accepted by the state. None of the glowing tributes paid it by visiting politicians at its recent dedication can gloss over the fact that the building still has at least 10 defective panels, worth $150,000, that must be replaced before the University makes full payments to the building's contractor.
buffing THE UNIVERSITY has felt the construction sting on such diverse projects as the KU Medical Center, Wesco Hall and Robinson Gymnasium. And according to one legislative estimate, about 100 deficiencies were present in recent state construction. The cost? About $2 million in repair work that affects 32 state buildings and three other state projects.
The state righthitten's office, by its inability to keep a close watch on construction, is costing Kansas taxpayers dearly. It is a failure. It should be abolished immediately.
Plimpton at it again
By GEORGE PLIMPTON N. J. Times Features
"He seemd quite receptive,
he said: 'For God's sake, don't
dawle. Catch the next plane!'
One of the mass-circulation magazines called me not long ago-Popular Mechanics possibly—and asked me to write a history in participatory journalism, I would be interested in doing a feature on being the governor of New York for a day. I would either accepting that assignment or writing about what it was like to wrestle Haysock Calhoun, so I called Governor Hugh Garey and ask whether he was at Albany and run the state for a day.
When I reached his office, he rushed out the door with a very large suitcase, calling back for directions. "I don't do anything I'd wouldn't do."
She said, "Who the hell is this?"
so I didn't do much. I sat down in his big chair and revolved in it. I did some thinking. After a while I telephoned Mrs. Robert Wagnere and asked her to come to New York City. Round up the gang for a party at your house."
I EXPLAINED that I was being governor for a day and that verisimilitude was important.
"Verisimilitude, eh?" Mrs. Wagner said. "Well, if that's
what you're interested in, we'd better get the gang together."
The next morning I couldn't find the governor to give him back his governorship. I went up to Albany and looked around, but he wasn't there. I thought, that perhaps if I began to act irresponsible, it might protect his record and reputation. So I called in the staff and, knowing they'd spread the word, I said I'd had a change of heart about the Urban Development Corporation: It was a marvel of imagination and fiscal intelligence. I said it's a billion dollar, deficit? The mayor that is achieved such a nice, round figure—masterful!*
"Every town should have one," I said. "Let 'em have mails!" I shouted.
REALIZING that the staff thought nothing especially ode in my behavior, I convened the Legislature and gave a State of the State Address. I told them that what they'd heard about a half-billion-dollar reduction in health care, that we were going to up a billion, and I wanted the money in cash, or household goods, no checks.
complete flop—and that as a last resort I had dispatched Felix Rohatyn to Las Vegas to help the city do for the city at the keno tables.
recommended that our state motto accordingly should be changed from "Exclslor" to "Chapter 11." All this time expected the governor to appear at the back of the cham-
As for New York City, I told them that the Municipal Assistance Corporation was a
I CONCLUDED my speech by saying, "Fifty years ago today, Gov. Al Smith stood in this chamber and said, 'It means something to say, 'live in New York.'"
"May I say something about that. "Al Smith was out of his mind!"
To my astonishment, the chamber stood up and cheered me to the echo. They thought my fiscal programs were gutsy. The rumor swept the chamber that Rohatyn had enjoyed an incredible run of luck at work in New York and back; but there was enough left over to do something about Jerset City.
They like "Chapter 11" rather than "Excelsior" as a state motto. One of the legislators said he never understood why some people call for state motto anyway. There was hylation in the chamber.
"Your representation owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays instead of serving you if he sacrifices it to your opinion"—Edmund Burke.
As for Gov. Carey, the last time he heard he was writing an article for Popular Mechanics on the subject of climate change forward for the Boston Celtics.
Panama decision left to Senate
As the Panama Canal treaties are being scrutinized by senators in Washington, thousands of Kansans are forming and expressing their opinions. Many Kansans think they have an unfounded belief in rights and evils of the treaties and are writing their senators to express their wisdom.
Several hundred letters are pouring into the offices of Sen. Robert Dole and Sen. James Pearson each day, urging the Senate for or against reticitation of the controversial treaties.
The voices of the great American public are being heard on Capitol Hill.
JANET ANDERSON, one of Dole's political aides, said last week that more than 30,000 letters from Kansans had been sent to him. The Dole's Washington office. And the mail is beginning to pick up, Anderson said. More than 5,000 letters have been received in the past few weeks. That figures out to be more than 238 letters a day.
margy Lynch, a Pearson aide, said that she didn't have exact figures but that the mail had been "extremely heavy." She estimated the number of letters coming to Peoria from her letters at between 100 and 150 a day during the past several weeks.
Both aides agreed that, compared with other issues, the Panama Canal treaties have been generatively followed in terms of mail. There also is a substantial number of form postcards coming in to that are the result of organized efforts to streamline their senators. The aides said these postcards were considered
somewhat less important and were not included in the total mail figures.
Steven Stingley Editorial writer
Anderson said that more than 90 percent of the mail Dole received was against ratification of the treaties.
and HOW do Kansans feel about the treaties, insofar as the mail indicates?
cnn said that several months ago it was "rare case" for Pearson to receive a letter expressing an opinion for rat- ration, but now the mail was "more evenly divided."
Since Pearson's public statement declaring support for the treaties two weeks ago, ratification has increased.
cars have The large quantity of public opinion on the Panama Canal treaties has had a tremendous
Sen. Howard Baker, R-Tennessee, is a good example. Still undecided but leaning toward him, Baker has been hounded by his conservative constituency and the Republican Party to vote on no the issue. He will probably share by many senators.
impact on senators from across the country.
AT FIRST glance, the heavy wave of letter writing by Kansans on the Panama Canal issue appears to be because in constituent democracy. The whole process is simple and honorable; when legislators in Washington are important decision on an important issue, they turn to their constituents, ask them what they think and then inform them based on citizen opinion.
the federal political process,
however, one has to seriously doubt whether citizen opinion will succeed in changing Congressional decision-makers. Even if it is effective,
one has to question whether it be possible for the president to his decisions solely on the letters he receives.
Upon further examination of
TO ASSUME that the public has sole rights to making its own political decisions is to assume that the public has an inherent capability, desire and intelligence to research the causes of certain issues and then make the "right" decision.
This kind of reasoning has definite flaws, especially when such complicated and unusual issues are used in canal treaties is concerned.
The treats are long and difficult to understand. Proper interpretation of the fine parts of the treaties is a giant task, even when they are thoroughly read and studied.
And if the treaties are not carefully read or are not even read at all, which is surely the case for many Kansans, dangerous for human life. Hardly judgment is often ignorant judgment.
ALSO, THE treaties must be considered in a broad context, with historical and future implications. They are followed and weighed. Often, public opinion rides on immediate concerns and emotions, lacking the broad perspective sound decision making.
This is where the professional, full-time legislator comes in. Dole and Pearson are in Washington just for the purpose of tackling the huge and complicated task of researching such issues as the Panama Canal treaties.
Public opinion can never be shumed or ignored, but there also is a necessary place for them to exercise their own judgment.
In many cases, legislators are better qualified to comprehend complex issues. That is their job. They have staffs and they enjoy access to a wide spectrum of information.
POLITICAL ideology will inevitably seize into the decisions of leaders in Washington. But it is hoped that the public who elected these leaders were aware of the kind of political ideology they would take to their offices.
In such a case as the Panama Canal treaties, in which there is a jungle of complexities, public opinion must be acknowledged. But, just as importantly, political representatives on Capitol Hill must actively gather, re-organize and communicate. They ultimately must make their own decisions.
Buses leave the complaining to students
Perhaps the Lawrence Bus Co. has lost sight of the fact that it is hired to provide service to the students of the University of Kansas. From offhand remarks made by the company's manager, Duane Ogle, and various applicants, the impression that the company has things twisted around.
The company, under contract with the Student Senate, is employed by the students. Through its representation by its bus faculty, it should con- form ties with the Students accordingly.
Surely no one would expect another person to suffer a physical attack in silence. And surely few people would support
Last week there was talk of a bus strike because a driver said a student had hit him and broken his glasses. At least six of the company's 16 drivers agreed with him that they didn't have to "put up with crap like that."
a student who felt he had to hit the driver.
IT IS understandable that the drivers would be upset this incident, but their protest has inadvertently damaged their own cause. The now-faded numbers of the attackers' attendance to the drivers' own less-than-ideal behavior toward their employers—KU students.
Almost any student who rides KU buses will say something such as, "The drivers aren't bad as long as they're in a good mood. If they're not, we all have to be careful."
It is one thing to have empathy for an individual who is having a bad day. But KU students are not pay students and driving is more than stopping at the designated stops and collecting
money for the rides. More than half of the driver's job is the establishment of rapport with the passengers. On many of the KU bus routes, intimidation has been substituted for rapport.
MANY OF THE Lawrence Bus Co. drivers are guilty not of physical abuse but of verbal abuse of their riders. They bark orders. They bark loudly if the riders were to be held directly responsible for the overcrowding.
If a person pulls the rope and the driver already had been planning to stop, the person is embarrassed with a sharp "Alright, alright already" reprimand.
A rew of the drivers drive on campus with the newspaper propped up on the steering wheel. If a passenger has moved out, "out," an ice gale is the reward for possibly saving the driver's job.
And the drivers seem to enjoy it when they threaten. "We're
How can KU students tolerate this intentional obnoxiousness?
not moving until everybody moves to the back of the bus. I can wait all day."
IT WOULD SEEM that it would be in Ogle's best interests to hire drivers who can perform the job. But evidently Ogle doesn't think so. He has told students, who like myself, have tried to ride the buses. "Look, if you ride the bus, it is way, it isn't ride the bus."
This is the way he handles complaints about drivers who smoke in spite of the "No Smoking" signs on the buses. Ogle said the state law that prohibited smoking didn't apply to his buses because they were private property. When the bus driver asks if you are the driver, also say, "If you want to ride, then sit in the back and shut up. If you don't get off."
Use-value appraisal has many assets
A use-value tax appraisal bill last week gained tentative approval by the Kansas House of Representatives after more than two years of complex debate.
The bill could provide a bulwark against haphazard development of rich agricultural land. Far-sighted development planning also would be encouraged by making the real value land, instead of its speculative value.
Many towns and cities in Kansas are experiencing urban blight by the metropolitan areas. The proliferation of needless shopping centers at the expense of city regions might be stemmed.
The burden of rejuvenating sickly urban areas, if the bill becomes law, would be shifted in residents nearer to urban areas.
The consequences of the bill are far-reaching. The plan would primarily base the taxation of farm land on the land's income productivity rather than its market value. Farmers say their land is overvalued because of inflation.
THE BILL was advanced to final action on a vote of 76-43, which indicates that it has support for formal passage.
outside for a bus that no one expected, the students often walk in and for the late, of course, wait and be missed their early classes.
A COUPLE OF WEEKS ago when the snow was blocking the roads, the 24th Ride Court bus decided to pick up passengers at Gibson's. The bus company had given no word to the Kansan, the student station, information server—so the buses were right on the dot and often ahead of schedule.
Land supposedly is assessed at 30 percent of its market value under the present system. Often the market value is
the drivers, in whatever moods that directed them on campus, and writing an extra few minutes for the students who were traipsing through the snow that even those big buses could not reach.
determined by the highest and best use of the land. In the case of agricultural land near urban areas, the market value is determined by speculation, not the land's productivity.
Legislature in 1976. Since that time, rural and urban legislators have staged heated battles over the uncertain effects of such a shift in land appraisal.
The legal authority for the shift in appraisal and assessment is derived from the amendment passed by the Kansas
The bill has noble intentions and could signal the advent of a more rational approach to managing the temptation to sell out to
Ogle, when called about the new stop, predictably said, "We don't have to come over there and get you anyway. That's all private property. You shovel it up, and we'll put it if you want us to come."
Such a reappraisal probably would begin in 1981, when the bill would require use-value assessment to tentatively passed by the Kansas House last week includes a provision that calls for use-value assessment if a reappraisal its real estate.
Although the use-value bill would encourage agricultural landowners to hold onto their crops, they could create some undesirable effects.
A COMPUTER analysis of the plan made for the Legislature in November
speculators might be reduced because of the easing of the tax burden. Because Kansas' biggest asset is its fertile farmlands, the bill has drawn support from rural constituencies.
THE REVENUES lost to the state through the use-value plan would have to be recouped by the state from another segment of taxable property. Kansas homeowners are an accompanying general reappraisal of property throughout the state.
But there are losses for homeowners and the state from such a shift in taxation. What ordinarily goes by the name of a "simple means" that the distribution of taxation is changing.
showed that county taxes paid by utilities and oil and natural gas interests and decrease. It shows that the interest needs the tax break.
Kansans should accept a reapraisal accompanied by the use-value plan. Use value would encourage response preservation the most productive sector of the state's economy.
Kansas has a predominantly agricultural economy. The shifting of tax burdens to homeowners is unfortunate, but Kansas taxpayers have been reaping gains from dated tax rolls. A trade tax would politically advantageous, but it still is forthcoming, with or without a use-plan value.
And the biggest thorn in the side of legislators this election year is that homeowners' taxes would rise. A dramatic devaluation of farmland would be felt by other taxpayers.
A few times this semester, passengers have caught the buses almost in spite of the bus company management. There are only two buses and ice raised doubt about whether the buses would run off campus. The KU Information Center said it wouldn't know until 7:30 a.m. and the bus didn't answer its phones.
Much of the drastic tax shift can be attributed to outdated Kansas property tax assessment levels. According to Barry Flinchbaugh, Kansas State University economist, some colleges and universities as well as department roles that an updated general repraisaal would produce significant tax shifts.
In most instances, the 7:00 bus came on schedule, but no thanks to the poor communication. Instead of waiting
It seems necessary to reasert the fact that the student is paying for his bus service. Instead of continuing to accept all the excuses and ultimatums, what is to stop the students from boycotting the service together? There are more pleasant ways to get onto campus than to subject oneself to the Lawrence Bus Co's idea of transportation.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
KANSAN
Editor Barbara Rosewicz
Publicized at the University of Kansas daily August 10, 2013, by the university and July 8, 2014, by the university and July 6, 2015. Saturday, Sunday and holiday weekends. **6936844. Subscriptions to mail are $ 8 a member or $18 a member. A year outside the county.** **Student subscriptions a year outside the county.**
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